The U.S. weekly Newsweek was set to publish its annual list of the 50 most influential rabbis in the U.S. on Monday.

The list will be the third such list, which includes rabbis belonging to the four denominations currently operating in the U.S.

The criteria used to rank the rabbis were national/ international recognition, political/social influence, media presence, community leadership, size of constituency, impact on Judaism, impact beyond Judaism, and more.

Last year, Newsweek tapped Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, as number one. This year the list is reshuffled to reflect the new president's priorities and the economic crisis. The top spot goes to David Saperstein, the social-justice advocate who sits on U.S. President Barack Obama's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

The No. 3 spot goes to Mark Charendoff, president of the Jewish Funders Network, who angrily called the Bernie Madoff scandal "an atomic bomb in the world of Jewish philanthropy."

Last year's top spot winner slipped to number two this year.

For the first time in the history of the list, a father and his son simultaneously rank among the 50 top rabbis ? Orthodox rabbis Marc Schneier (number 33), President and Founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, and his father Arthur Schneier (number 36), the spiritual leader of Park East Synagogue and Founder and President of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation. He was also the first rabbi to host the Pope at his synagogue.